Agnes Bowker (born 1540) was an English domestic servant and the alleged mother of a cat.

Life

Bowker was born in Leicestershire (probably

Market Harborough Market Harborough is a market town in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, in the far southeast of the county, forming part of the border with Northamptonshire. Market Harborough's population was 25,143 in 2020. It is the adm ...

) to a local family in about 1541. She came to prominence when her midwife, Elizabeth Harrison, reported that she had given birth to a cat on 16 January 1569. The story caused interest as it was feared that some may see this as a portent. The idea was not dismissed even after the cat that was said to have been born was found to have food in its stomach. A pamphlet was circulated. Bowker was not married and she had tried to drown and hanging herself during her pregnancy. The rest of her life is unclear but she came from a local family and she worked in the Leicestershire area. She had visited London and seen

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

in 1566. The report was made to the church authorities and

Anthony Anderson Anthony Anderson (born August 15, 1970) is an American actor, comedian and game show host. He is best known for his leading roles in drama series such as Marlin Boulet on '' K-Ville'', and as NYPD Detective Kevin Bernard on the NBC crime drama ...

who worked for the Archdeacon of Leicester. He created a life-size drawing of a cat which he annotated and sent it to nobleman

Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, KG, KB (c. 153514 December 1595) was an English Puritan nobleman. Educated alongside the future Edward VI, he was briefly imprisoned by Mary I, and later considered by some as a potential successor to E ...

.Agnes Bowker
9 December 2006, The Scotsman, Retrieved 11 May 2017 Hastings had local connections but he was also close to the Queen during the

Rising of the North The Rising of the North of 1569, also called the Revolt of the Northern Earls or Northern Rebellion, was an unsuccessful attempt by Catholic nobles from Northern England to depose Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary, Queen of ...

.Claire Cross, ‘Hastings, Henry, third earl of Huntingdon (1536?–1595)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 200
accessed 11 May 2017
/ref> He sent the report to Queen Elizabeth's advisor Sir William Cecil. Cecil sent it on to

Edmund Grindal Edmund Grindal ( 15196 July 1583) was Bishop of London, Archbishop of York, and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth I. Though born far from the centres of political and religious power, he had risen rapidly in the church durin ...

who was then the Bishop of London but who would in time be the Archbishop of Canterbury. Grindal concluded the affair in August of that year when ruled that it was a hoax, but he conceded that there was no evidence to prove that Bowker was not telling the truth.David Cressy, ‘Bowker, Agnes (b. 1541/2)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oct 200
accessed 11 May 2017
/ref>

Legacy

It isn't known what happened to Agnes Bowker but the picture of the cat is now in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

. Bowker's alleged birth of a cat was also dismissed by the London physician William Bullein in 1573.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowker, Agnes 1540 births 16th-century English women Cats in England English domestic workers People from Market Harborough Year of death unknown